l-KLAGODKUMA. 



357 



colony has existed for many years. Referring,' again to New South Wales waters, Mr. A. F. B. 

 Hull found it breeding on Tom Thumb Island, near Wollongong, and at Cabbage Tree Island, 

 near the entrance to Port Stephens. Further north I observed it near the South Solitaries, and 

 at Cook- Island, near the entrance to Tweed River. 



According to Gould, " (lilbert discovered it breeding on some of the mud islands lying off 

 Cape Leuwin, in December, where he procured numbers of its eggs, as well as many examples 

 of the adult birds ; he also noticed it on a small island about three miles south of Wallaby 

 Island, in January, by which time the young birds were almost ready to leave the nesting holes. 

 The specimens procured on this island are peculiarly interesting, as showing how completely 

 the tail-feathers are assumed before the downy covering is thrown off." 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. P. Austin writes me as 

 follows:— "On Broughton Island, near Port Stephens, I saw Pclngodroina marina breeding in a 

 very large colony, on December 4th, igio, when most of the burrows contained young. Upon 

 a sloping sandy hill their rat-like burrows covered many acres of ground, most of them from one 

 to two feet apart, but in many cases only a few inches. Of those I dug out, all went about three 

 feet in length and from eighteen inches to two feet in depth. When a sitting bird was taken 

 from a nest and lit^erated, instead of flying straight out to sea, even when thrown high into the 

 air, it would rapidly dive straight down to within a few inches of the ground and so skim along 

 all the way down the slope of the island and out over the waves; probably this is to avoid 

 some well-known enemy." 



Mr. Joseph Gabriel of Abbotsford, Melbourne, writes me as follows:— " My only experience 

 of the White-faced Storm Petrel (Pdafiodroina fveqata), was on November iSth, 1893, at Isabella 

 Rock, Bass Strait, while visiting the Furneaux Group, with some members of the Field 

 Naturalists' Club of Victoria, we found the burrows about twelve to eighteen inches long, 

 cunningly placed under tussocks of grass. These birds lay but one white egg, occasionally 

 however, an egg is found distinctly spotted. Of late years they have again taken to breeding on 

 Mud Island, near the entrance of Port Phillip Bay. On the 24th December, 1910, while sailing 

 in a yacht in the bay, I pointed out several to my companions who were very interested with 

 their peculiar 'sea-walking' flight." 



Mr. G. A. Keartland of Melbourne, Victoria, writes :^" On the 6th March, 1905, I had a live 

 White-faced Storm Petrel (Pchv^odroma marina) brought to me. When a large ironmongery 

 store in the city was opened on Monday morning, after being closed all day on Saturday (being 

 a holiday), and on Sunday, a slight noise was heard in a barrel, and on mspection, the Petrel 

 was discovered uninjured and in good condition. I low it got there is a mystery, as the store is 

 miles away from the sea. Like most birds of this family, the White-faced Storm Petrel makes 

 its nest at the end of a burrow which the bird excavates in the sandy soil. It lays only one egg, 

 usually all white, but occasionally marked with brown spots at the large end. White-faced 

 Petrels are found on several islands in Bass Strait, Mud Island, Port Phillip, and Moatzuker 

 Island, off the coast of Tasmania." 



Mr. R. N. Atkinson sent the following notes from Tasmania :—" The White-faced Storm 

 Petrel (Pelngodroma marina) I found breeding on a small island in the Furneaux Group, on the 

 14th November, 1909. In every instance a single egg was deposited at the end of a narrow 

 burrow, about two feet in length. The eggs were from fresh to hard set, and the burrows 

 contained one or both of the parent birds, who, on bemg disturbed and pulled out into the day- 

 light, made as much resistance as their size and weight would permit. The birds are very 

 plentiful in the vicinity of these islands, where they may be often seen from the passing boats, 

 skimming over the sea in countless numbers." 



